Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

Christian Sharia Needed to Stop Muslim Sharia

On his radio show recently, David Barton argued that we must have a Christian nation because having a secular nation leads to having a Muslim nation. Or something. Right Wing Watch has the transcript:

I was really struck with a passage that Jesus has in Matthew 12. Matthew 12 he talks about how an unclean spirit had gone out of a man and in verse 43 it says it goes through dry places seeking rest and finds none, verse 44, then he says, ‘The unclean spirit says, ‘I will return to the house from which I came.’ When he comes, he finds it empty, swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself.’ I thought, that’s that principle, if you don’t fill it with good stuff, bad stuff is going to find its way in and it will be a lot worse. So we had it filled with kind of a God-fearing system and then we made it a secular system, so now we made it seven times worse by saying, let’s take Sharia law, not only do we not want biblical stuff we don’t even want secular stuff, we want seven times worse than secular. The vacuum is going to get filled with something, and if we’re going to refuse to have some Judeo-Christian principles in there on which the founders built everything and that’s what they had as the undergirding , if we’re not going to do that, then what are we going to fill it with? Right now it appears that it is going to be Sharia.

So we have to have a Christian theocracy in order to avoid being a Muslim theocracy. That’s some serious crazy right there.

Comments

The vacuum is going to get filled with something, and if we’re going to refuse to have some Judeo-Christian principles in there on which the founders built everything and that’s what they had as the undergirding , if we’re not going to do that, then what are we going to fill it with? Right now it appears that it is going to be Sharia.

Off the top of my head: Both are anti-women. Both are anti-LGBT. Both support blasphemy laws. Both encourage rape culture by blaming the victim for not covering up enough. Both are anti-science. Both embrace arbitrary ritualism. Both place religious dogma above individual rights. Both have a tendency to condone if not command torture (Hell).

The vacuum is going to get filled with something, and if we’re going to refuse to have some Judeo-Christian principles in there on which the founders built everything and that’s what they had as the undergirding , if we’re not going to do that, then what are we going to fill it with?

As a former Catholic I know they have Canon Law. Canon Law allows pedophiles to be forgiven. Perpetrators can have a clean slate to go on perping until the next confession. Canon law is above civil law therefore no need to turn in offenders. That is the prevalent mindset of the Catholic clergy.

That analogy of the nation being like an empty house that’s gets filled with wicked spirits: it really resonates with me. My car sits empty in the garage much of the time, and whenever I use it I find all manner of wicked junk spirits in it. And my work room in the basement? Filled with wicked unfinished project spirits.

I’m not going to disagree that Sharia law would be a bad thing here. (It would).
But just for the sake of argument assuming that Sharia law is “seven times worse” than Christian law, that doesn’t mean that Christian law itself is not pretty fucking stupid and evil.

tubi“I actually read it as 7 days a week for 27 days out of each month and then you have to send the unclean females away during menses.”
I tried to join menses, but the test was too hard. Those guys must be really smart.

slc1“Case in point, Philis Schlafly who once opined that a woman jogger wearing only shorts and a jogging bra is asking to be raped.”
To be fair, Phyllis Schlafly was simply jealous. Imagine, other lady’s husbands letting them out of the kitchen!

Has anyone else seen a fake Santorum quote getting passed around facebook? In it, he said something about agreeing with the Taliban when it comes to porn. Santorum already says enough crazy shit without people making up quotes. Just because Republicans are dishonest doesn’t mean we should be too.

I should also add that Santorum’s anti-porn stance really is a common point he shares with the Taliban. Especially when you consider their common “protect the wimminz” disingenuous smokescreen to hide their common “we hates the wimminz” attitude.

But anyone who repeats that Santorum is saying that he shares a common belief with the Taliban should stop; they’re attributing far too much honesty to Santorum than he deserves.

So if I stop drinking I have to start using oxycodone or something? I had an ex-junkie roommate back in the day who smoked like a chimney. Said he didn’t smoke until he gave up the heroin.

This is why True Believers seem to honestly think that we worship ourselves, or money, or something. They find it inconceivable that we don’t. Everybody has to worship something, right? They become especially unsettled by folks who seem otherwise normal, but lack any god beliefs or similar behavior. If only atheists were unshaven, drunken, and miserable like in the Chick comics, they would welcome us around (in small numbers, or course). Shows the kids what happens to you if you don’t go to church.